the mirror of simple souls pdf

For when she is thus free of these four costs and noble[269] by all the freedoms that of her be descended for no churl is accepted[270] in this marriage this soul that is thus noble, falleth then, saith Love, into dismay that is called naught, thinking of the far-off results of what is near;[271] that is her most nigh neighbour. The Son of God is my mirror in this, for God the Father gave his Son our Saviour to be an ensample to us. Why take we him not without seeking? on February 27, 2021, There are no reviews yet. But so hath he given me, that he may nothing withhold from me, for love asketh that; else it were not love of [the] Beloved, unless it were of such a [kind]. For until then is not the soul wholly refined, until she do that which pleaseth her and that she be grudging of doing the contrary of her pleasaunces. Thus was knit human nature to divine goodness in the person of the Son, for to pay the ransom of our debts that we have misdone by our sinful will. This may mean that she has no will i.e., she is indifferent concerning her own satisfaction, or that her will is made naught , MS. and this hase of failance and not of suffisance.. ], Therefore I say, saith Reason, that I may not understand it; but meseemeth that this which this soul doth, is so well done, saith Reason, that I will serve her in all as her poor servant. M. Touching these words that this soul saith: She taketh leave of virtues, Love declareth, but yet I am stirred here to say more to the matter, as thus: First: when a soul giveth herself to perfection she laboureth busily day and night to get virtues, by counsel of reason, and striveth with vices at every thought, at every word and deed that she perceiveth cometh of them, and busily searcheth [out] vices, them to destroy. And then this soul taketh leave of virtues [in respect] of the thraldom and painful travail of them that she had before, and now she is lady and sovereign, and they be subjects. In such war be they often, those who lead in will, how good soever the works be that will doth. The last speeches of the free soul, taken in conjunction with all that has been said, do not convey an impression of heretical pantheism (cf. With twain she covereth the face of our Lord; that is to say, the more that this soul hath of the knowing of the divine bounty, the more she knoweth that she knoweth not the mere wittance of a mote in regard of his bounty, the which is not comprehended but of himself. This is a great privilege, and this sufficeth you, sweet soul, if you believe me.. in sooth they would say, Nothing!. A. Herbert, Keeper of MSS. And Love told me it was but all solely for one thing, and that is, that the divine will of all the Trinity would it. for it may not be that Holy Church knew them perfectly unless Holy Church were within their souls. His divine bounty may not suffer him [to do so]. Oh, for God, behold the sinful repentant Magdalen, what shame or glory had she, that God said to her, that she had chosen the better part and the most sure, and that her Beloved said it should never be taken from her. The present text is based on the Bodley version as containing older readings. I might not suffer it unless I had it of the pure love that he hath to me, for me, of his pure bounty and of his sole will and love that a Beloved hath to his lover. That is, saith Love, that such a soul that is naughted, hath so great inward knowing, by the virtue of faith, that she is thus called in her inwardness to sustain that which faith hath ministered to her of the might of the Father, of the wisdom of the Son, and of the goodness of the Holy Ghost. I answered anon this, that [as] I was, I would [have] no more help of him, nor of anything that might do me good. The parallelism between our author s doctrine of the Dark Night and that of St John of the Cross admits of further analysis. As a result, this edition offers a reading of The Mirror of Simple Souls that solves a number of difficulties found in the French. It is the eagerness which is blamed. She recketh not of herself, nor that she is naught. Another life [there] is that we call peace of charity in life naughted. Lord, ye be one bounty, by bounty outpoured and all in you, and I am one wickedness by wickedness all outpoured and all in me. Naught is of such a nature, that naught must be naught. For God suffereth some time some evil to be done for greater good that afterward shall grow. This confusion in the mind of our North-country monk may be due to similarity of doctrine in some points i.e., the dark night, the valley of peace, etc. This put me in meditation by reasonings on one side, in consenting of will, without receiving [of Gods favours?].[391]. When none of the nine orders wot it not, what wit ye. Moreover, the originality of the book lies in the fact that the author dismisses in a few pages the whole subject of ascetic discipline, which as a rule forms the main part of the spiritual treatises of the epoch. For herself, cf. And through this I am the salvation of creatures and the glory of God.. [140] Lady Soul, saith Love, I tell you one thing for all, and passing that, desire no more to hear, for ye shall lose your pains; that all creatures this is to understand without none putting out that be and shall be, in the vision of the sweet face of your spouse, have not comprehended of him, nor shall comprehend, in truth, nor in knowing, nor in love, nor in hearing, anything., Ah, Love, saith this soul, what shall I do? Are you not his creature? She is content with what God is in himself. And they that be free have to do all the contrary, for right as them behoveth in life of spirit to do all the contrary of their will, unless they will lose peace, [so] behoveth it in life that is free, to do all that pleaseth them, unless they will lose peace. Jr. 3 / 5 ( 21 ratings ) About this ebook [What shame had she] of this that her sins be known before all the people, by such witnesses as be the Evangelists? That is to say, during the time of that usage; for indeed every usage standeth for the time of its working; not that the soul is continually in them, for that may not be. This is the end,saith this soul, of my work, always naught to will. . Also, she comprehendeth much, what time she is oned to God; then in a moment of time she forgetteth herself and all other thing that was afore thought. He were purblind that would take it in this wise; but all such words in this book must be taken ghostly and divinely. None of the single English fourteenth-century spiritual treatises cover the whole ground which our author treats systematically, yet not with that arid, methodical precision that mars much of the later spiritual treatises. They also condemned her book, the Mirror of Simple Souls, which includes doctrines associated decades earlier with a "new spirit" heresy spreading "blasphemies" such as that "a person can become God" because "a soul united to God is made divine." The Mirror of Simple Souls by Margaret Porette, Kent Emery. Now she is so upheld and so entered into divine election, that she beginneth to speak where you take your end. And for this had he three, that yet it may be had, when God giveth it to his creatures by fervour of burning charity. For he who feeleth [any thing] of God, through any substance that he seeth or heareth outside himself, or by effort that he maketh of himself, that,[127] is not all fire, but there is substance [mixed] with this fire. Right then, saith she, when love hath opened me his book, for his book is of such condition, that what time that love openeth the book, the soul wot all and hath all, all works of perfection it hath in her fulfilled, at the opening thereof. Ye have sat at my table, so I have given you my mess, and so have ye right well learned, and right well my mess savoured, and my vines of fulness, of which ye be the cutting. We know that his sympathies were partly Thomistic, but on the points which affected the work he still adhered to the older scholasticism. But your questions have made them long, because ye have need thereof yourself, and for your disciples,[206] those of your household who have flys hearts! [241] Nor unto this time is the spirit perfectly dead until it have lost the feeling of his love, and the will is dead that gave her life. And she hath so abashed us, saith Holy Church, that we dare not be against her!, Oh, Holy Church, saith the Holy Ghost, will you wit what this soul wot and what she willeth? 297-300). For she hath nothing wherewith to sin, for without will may no creature sin. [182], Mercy God, saith Reason, dare we call naught anything that is in God?. Nor they unwill[168] none of all the torments of hell. At the first beginning, this soul lived in the life of grace, the which life of grace is born in the death of mortifying sin. Uploaded by This soul, saith Love, hath not held[266] doubt nor trust., Certain confidence, saith Love, and true agreement[267] to will only [and wholly] the divine ordering; thus it is that she is perfectly free.. But if this soul, that is thus high set, might help any of her even-Christians, she would help them at their need with all her might. Her other work on Marguerite includes Seeing Marguerite in the Mirror: A Linguistic Analysis of Porete's 'Mirror of Simple Souls' (Peeters, 2011). . This description marks him as an Augustinian who holds the possibility of the immediate vision of God; and though he may have learned much from St Bernards affective theology, he does not accept the theories of his mystical theology. what would they? They have nothing of will to will this, and, if they did will it, they would descend from love. And then I said to him, that if it might be that he would give me as great torments as he is mightful, for to avenge him of my defaults, if it pleased him, it were my pleasaunce. MP writes in a lyric prose style which I find enjoyable. This is the fulhead and the substance of my peace, and the true rest of my thought, for I love not myself but for him. And he giveth himself simply to show that there is none but he whence all things have being. And if I had as great torments as he is of might, I should love better these torments, if they came of him, than I should glory that came not of him, [even were I] to have it everlastingly. They have forgot that anything that I did for them sufficed me not unless I had done all that mine humanity might bear, unto the death., Ah, right sweet Lord Jesu Christ saith the soul, do not trouble yourself thereof, nor displease yourself, for these souls be so for themselves, and with themselves, that they forget you, for the littleness of themselves, in which they suffice themselves., Oh, saith Love, without fail it is great villainy!, This people, saith this soul, be merchants; in the world they be called thralls, for thralls they be, for it behoveth not to any gentleman to be able to meddle with merchandise, nor to be one of them. The seventh is of the seraphins, how they be in the divine will.. Also, as Jesu Christ is buyer of the people by his death, and the laud of God the Father, right so am I, because of my wickedness, the salvation of mankind, and the glory of God the Father. Oh, is he not Almighty? And how Our Lady had it always, and what the language of this life is, CHAPTER XVII: How and by what means they that stand in desire may come to rest of spirit; and of three things of the divine life and of the innocence that is gotten by this life, CHAPTER XVIII: Of the most high being that the naked, naughted, or clarified souls be in, CHAPTER I: Of three things whereby it may be known that the soul is not come to peace, but is begging; and what paradise is, CHAPTER II: How it is [to be] understood that the thief was in paradise that day that he died and our lord went not into heaven before his ascension, CHAPTER I: How they that sit all in freedom do rest themselves in pure naught without thought, CHAPTER II: What thing they do that be in being above their thoughts, THE ONLY CHAPTER: How they that be of all things in sovereignty know and feel the life that this book speaketh of, and none but they, CHAPTER I: What great difference is between some angels and others, and also of the souls that this book speaketh of, compared with others that be not such; and how they think themselves to be best, CHAPTER II: Of three words wherein the perfection of this clear life is fulfilled, CHAPTER III: How this soul seeketh no more God; and what thing it is that taketh from her love of herself. There is one substance enduring, one fruition agreeable, one conjunction amiable. Ye have something heard there, he said, I hold all thing that was and is and shall be; I am of all goodness fulfilled, take of me what ye will; if ye will have me all, I unwill it not, saith my friend, how seemeth it you of me? The reason that Marguerite's name was not attributed to the book for several centuries was due to being sentenced as a heretic at the beginning of the 14th century. N. The saints that be in heaven should see him in none other likeness than we ourselves do if they saw him in such a likeness [i.e., in the Host] as we see him; but they see by understanding of spirit. I encumber myself with writing these words, but thus I take my recourse to come to my strength and succour and to my last crowning crown, of the being of which we have spoken of; which sitteth all in freedom, that is, when a soul resteth in pure naught without thought; for till then she may not be free., Ah God, saith Reason, what do they that be in being, above their thoughts?, They marvel themselves,[318] saith Love, of him that is in the mount of their mountain, and they abash themselves of the same, that is, of the deepness of their valley, by a naught thinking, which is shut and ensealed in the most pure and secret closet of this excellent soul. a forgotten soul, drunk! This is sooth, saith Love, under such control live they, that these virtues have power over., But these souls that I speak of, have the virtues put at point;[46] for they do nothing for them, but the virtues do all that the souls will, without control or withstanding, for these souls be their mistresses.. He loveth not the spiritual things, who loveth temporalities. Truth, saith this soul. O courteous and well taught, saith Holy Church that wisely can speak, ye be the very star that showeth us the day and the sun without lack or spot, that taketh not of uncleanness. Ye have heard in this writing here, how I have all his bounty. 155, 184 are quite definite in guarding against such an interpretation. I have, by my far night, sent letters to you; but none asketh, What is this far night? When he showeth his glory to the soul, his works may not be told! How truly this manhood dwelleth with them, Faith teacheth it, and this clerks know.. Drac Von Stoller's short story "Bloody Mary" has been Number "1" for over 6 months solid in the US and Number 1 in 26 Countries over the course of two years and also has had 48 reach #1 on iBooks. Now, of the Father and of the Son is the Holy Ghost, one person in Trinity. have appeared, nor has any trace been found of the thirteenth-century French original of which the Mirror is a translation. . This soul seeketh not the fulness[307] of her understanding, but God seeth it in her without breaking her. So beholdeth she the deep by the deep, and by the high, the highful and sure one; for they do ever unite the all and the nothing,[204] as long as she hath it in her beholding., Ah, right sweet soul, deep in lowness, full of entire meekness, and right clean and pure in the pleasure of plain truth, and by love of passing more alone perfected, except for them of your demesne, saith Reason, tell us what these dark words, that fine love toucheth, mean.. Porete was burned at the stake as a relapsed heretic in 1310. Of these souls, saith Love, we will take one for all, to speak the more readily. And I say to him, As much care have ye for me as I for you, though I gave you as much as you have, for such is the largesse of your divine nature. So willeth he, so saith this gentle Far Night, that is my counsel. These be the wings that she flieth with. And how they that have the feelings of this book must keep it secret, and a little touching of the seventh state, CHAPTER VI: What this far night is, and of the knowing that it giveth to the soul, CHAPTER VII: Of the three deaths by the which these souls come to the life aforesaid, CHAPTER I: Who be they that sit in the mountain, and what things shame, dread, and reason do to this soul, CHAPTER II: What power the freedom of love hath, and whereof this soul is most glad, CHAPTER III: Of the country that this soul is in, CHAPTER IV: How the usage of reason is full of travail, and where this free soul refresheth her, CHAPTER V: [In] what manner they seek god that governed by reason, and where this soul seeketh him, and what this soul is, CHAPTER VI: How this soul doeth no more work for God, nor for herself, nor for her even-Christian, and how this is meant, CHAPTER VII: Of the mischief that Lucifer and they that accorded to him came to, by reason of their evil will, CHAPTER VIII: Why love hath called these souls in this book by the name of soul; to whom the name of souls properly pertaineth; and to whom the name of spirit; and of the surmounted life and who be perfected in it; and what is the proper name of this soul, CHAPTER IX: Of the transfiguration of our Lord, and why he did it but before three of his disciples; and why it was done in the mountain, and why he bade them not show it till his resurrection, CHAPTER X: Of Mary Magdalen and St Peter and St John, and how god worketh yet in souls as he did in them, that well dispose them thereto, CHAPTER XI: How they that will come to peace and freedom must ever be ready and able to receive the sending of grace; and what it is to them if they refuse it, CHAPTER I: A great rebuke that love giveth to them that refuse the sending of God, and how they be therefore encumbered of themselves all their lifetime, and how they might have been unencumbered, and by what means and for how little, CHAPTER II: Of certain means whereby they that be marred and in life of spirit may come over to the being that is next the being of this soul which hath attained the highest being; and in what case the soul is in the time of that being, CHAPTER III: How these souls be never feeble nor encumbered of themselves, CHAPTER IV: How this soul hath perceived the coast of the country where she ought to be, CHAPTER V: Of the debts of this soul, and how they be paid, and by whom, and who is his next neighbour, CHAPTER VI: How this soul is a spring of divine love, and how she seeth that she is naught, and how this naught giveth her all, CHAPTER VII: Of two things that this soul doeth not, which maketh her to have peace; and how she is no more encumbered of things that she doeth without her, than if she did it not; and who be perfectly free, CHAPTER VIII: Of four costs that this soul is made free of; how she hath lost her name by union of love and is turned about to love, and how yet there is more high than this; how none may understand this book but they that love hath made it for, CHAPTER IX: Of the rudeness of them that be governed by reason, and how this soul will no more follow their counsel, CHAPTER X: How this soul is free and consumed by mortality, and brent in the burning fire of charity; and how this soul seeketh no more God by outward works. 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the mirror of simple souls pdf